wooden patch box spring

[bob hertrich]

I am building an early rifle with a wooden box. I purchased a cast spring but it appears too thin, .12 thick. I was wondering if I used a knife blade bar 1095 annealed, .19 thick ( sold by Amazon) if it would work. I only have a propane torch to use to make the knob so was planning to cold forge it.

[rich pierce]

That is plenty thick.

[Tim Crosby]

 I had to laugh once I opened this, I had never seen a "wooden" patch box spring.

  Tim C.

[PPatch]

.12 sounds about right for a wooden patch box latch. To install the thin end is first notched with a flat chisel (make little barbs on the tip) heated to a dull red and slowly inserted into the bottom of the lid. That is the tricky part, not burning the wood yet getting it hot enough for the pointy end to advance into the wood about a quarter of an inch.  Experiment on scrap wood with the heating technique before doing it on your actual lid.

Once the latch is installed you can file a lip on the bottom of the latch so that it catches on the inside of the brass (or steel) butt plate just as the box arrives fully in place.  It only takes a tiny lip on the bottom of the latch to hold the box closed.

dave

[smylee grouch]

"Iron Wood"    Well I have done a few of those and I thought the spring was too thin the first time but after installing it realized that it was OK.

[n stephenson]

For no more travel than you have to have for one of these, I have been using mild steel for years , and never had a complaint? 

[bob hertrich]

Dave, with the heating method does the point goes into the end of the inlet

[TommyG]

As mentioned earlier, heating and getting the end of the spring into the shoulder of the PB groove can be a challenge.  What has helped me is I use a 1/16" drill - 4" long (I got mine at a local hardware store), lay it in the bottom of the PB groove and drill a series of holes into the end of the shoulder about 1/4" deep.  This makes burning the spring into position a lot easier and less risky.

[PPatch]

Dave, with the heating method does the point goes into the end of the inlet

Yes it does, measure so that you know if you have to lengthen the mortise or not. The latch lies upside down in the mortise and the point enters at the terminus of the inlet.

dave

[bob in the woods]

Just for laughs, I did make a "spring" out of a thin piece of maple for a patch box lid release mechanism. A dowel was used as a push rod and a screw was threaded into the dowel through the butt plate so everything looked normal. It worked/works fine. There isn't a lot of movement required.

[davec2]

I'm not big on the "burning in" the spring thing.  I solder a disk of steel on the end of the spring and attach it with a short screw.  By the way, this spring is only about 0.050 at the thin end near the screw.

[smylee grouch]

Dave, that sounds like a good viable alternative if a guy is a little hesitant about burning in the end.

[BOB HILL]

I saw a Jack Hubbard gun with a wooden patch box and a wooden latch spring instead of metal.
Bob

[Long John]

I've been making my PB springs from 1018 mild steel for about 20 years.  Never had a single problem.  Usually I work harden the face of the bending part of the spring with a small ball peen hammer but the movement is so small that is hardly "necessary".  I just think it looks cool.  I'm not wild about burning it in, although that is more HC, so I use a short screw through a flared-out end I make with my hammer.

Best Regards,

JMC
John Cholin

[jerrywh]

 
That's the prettiest lid I ever have seen.  I would just buy the lid alone.

[little joe]

Bob Hill I have knew Jack Hubbard for years and you never know what to expect from him. He is always using little tricks that he has saw on origional pieces though.

[David R. Pennington]

Here is one hammered out of some scrap spring steel. A little crude but effective.

[bob hertrich]

Gentlemen, Thank you much. Great information.

[Mike New]

I have a Jack Hubbard rifle that has a wooden spring latch and it works well. M. New

[David R. Pennington]

I have thought about making one of hickory. I know of an original 19th century door latch with wooden spring still funtioning.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Here's a two piece box (ala John Bivens) on my old Jaeger rifle.  Spring is forged from annealed spring steel, but is not hardened or tempered.  Has never failed.